Assassins: Bonds Made in Blood
by Aamir Arya
Summary: Book 1: Follow Aamir through the dark past of the Assassin Brotherhood and her connection with Al Mualim, Altair, and the Templars. Please comment.
1. Chapter 1 to 4

Chapter One

Informer: "So, have you heard from Arya?" Altaїr stands in silences with an annoyed look. The informer realizes that there will be no response, "Sorry, brother, peace be with you and good luck with the rest of your mission." Altaїr walks away; he hasn't learned much of his target and decides to return to Masyaf. He saddled his horse and started on his trip back home, the weather was unusually hot for this time of year and the air dry.

A few days later Altaїr returned to Masyaf and was greeted at the gate by a brother in arms.

"Altaїr! It is good to see you again. The master awaits you in his library…hurry I'm sure you're eager to put your tongue to his boot--" Abbas taunted.

"Another word, and I'll put my blade to your throat!" Altaїr snapped. Abbas grunted and moved aside. Tension flared as Altaїr passed and continued onto the main courtyard, the mass of the castle evaded the sky. Altaїr looks to the sky to see the unusual formation of dark clouds, _looks like it's going to rain, how odd_, he thinks to himself. He walks up the flight of stairs to reach the castle entrance, from there he continues onward to the Al Mualim's studies.

"Ah, Altaїr, what news do you have for me?"

"None, afraid, Jubair Al Hakim has escaped once again…" Altaїr said with confidence and a little shame.

"I see…I expect more of you, Altaїr." Al Mualim raised his voice, "You're one of the best and this type of failure is below you."

"It wasn't my fault! Someone must have tipped him off--"

"Some Master Assassin," a voice came from behind, "making up excuses?" An assassin comes out from behind the bookcase. This assassin is slightly smaller and skinnier than most. Altaїr looks down at him.

"Who's this?" he asks Al Mualim.

"This is your new partner…."

"What? I don't need a partner, especially some as scrawny as him—"

"Her." Al Mualim corrected, Altaїr looked at him in disbelief then looked back over at the other Assassin. "Her name is Aamir 1and she'll be working with you to track down and kill Jubair."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Altaїr yelled, "This girl? An Assassin? She should be in the Gardens, not doing a man's work!" he exclaimed.

"Hush, boy!" Al Mualim interrupted, "She is a well trained assassin and has proven herself countless times."

"But—"

"But nothing, you'll do as you're told."

"As you wish, Master." Altaїr managed to say.

"Good, now you two should go and prepare for your mission…get to _know_ one another." Al Mualim returns to his studies and the two Assassins dismiss themselves. Aamir leads them out of the castle and back to the courtyard where another Assassin met them.

"Ah, Altaїr, can you please demonstrate some of the techniques; it appears that my students are having a hard time?"

"Of course, in fact…" Altaїr looks over at Aamir, "why don't Aamir and I demonstrate?"She looks over and him with curiosity as does their Brother. "Al Mualim said you were skilled, so you shouldn't have a problem with this, don't you agree?"

"Agreed." She replied. It was easy to tell that Altaїr was not thrilled to have a partner, and he was about to make sure that she knew her place. They step into the practice ring, getting ready for the demonstration. It was a presentation of swordplay, to disable your opponent. Their swords touched slightly and slid pass by one another. Altaїr maneuvered his sword around Aamir's and then moved in for the 'final blow.' Aamir reacted quickly, blocking and countering Altaїr's attack, disabling him instead. He fell to the ground in shock. He moved to his knees and then to his feet, the crowd whispered amongst themselves in disbelief. Of course now, Altaїr's pride was injured, but he would redeem himself. This time Altaїr moved quicker in hopes of out maneuvering her, but Aamir was still faster, able to out maneuver him.

Now Altaїr was on his last straw, and decided to go all out. He goes in to disable Aamir. She counters. He matches her counter and heads in for the final blow. This time she was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground. Altaїr's swords came down as if to strike her, but he stops just short of her throat. The sound of thunder suddenly filled the sky and lighting illuminate the courtyard, the initial soft rain turns into a down pour. Aamir lies on the ground as Altaїr stands triumphantly over her.

Chapter Two

Altaїr slides his sword from her neck down to her torso while the rain drips off its edge, he then sheaths his sword. "That was a very impressive demonstration. Thank you for your time, Altaїr, Aamir," said the instructor, as he tried to ease the tension between them. Altaїr nodded to the instructor and then reached his hand down as to offer Aamir a hand up. She merely stood up as if she didn't even notice Altaїr's hand. The mixture of the soft rain and the breeze seemed to clean the dirt from her white cloak, the standard white uniform of that rank of an Assassin.

"Okay, let's finish up here and get out of the rain. I wouldn't want anyone to get sick." Said the instructor and so they did. Altaїr and Aamir retreated from the rain to prepare themselves before their next journey; Jubair has disappeared and left no trace as to where he went so they need to research.

The storm raged on as the night drifted by. Neither book nor scroll held any information that would help them. Despite the size of the library, nothing could be found. Aamir returned a book to its place, "There's no use, there's nothing here that will help us. We should get some rest and start again tomorrow."

"I understand, late nights must be hard for you." Altaїr taunted. Aamir silently walked to an adjacent room. The room had a Persian carpet centered on the floor, and many silk pillows lying in piles about the room. A table stood on the far side of the room, with a small window to the right side of the room. Centered on the table was a red cloth with the Assassin's symbol on it, on top of the cloth was a framed piece of paper. The paper was made of from the best materials from the region and had a Celtic boarder around the edge. Centered on the paper was the Assassin's Creed, written in Arabic: Never harm the innocence, Be discreet, and Never bring harm to the Brotherhood, directly or indirectly. On either side of the Creed were two candles, unlit, and above the table on the wall was the Creed's symbol carved into it.

Aamir walked to the back corner and sat in a pile of pillows; she slowly closed her sea green eyes and soon fell asleep. A few hours later, Altaїr walked in, lighting flashed from the window illuminating the room. He looked at her. She was now lying on her side, her arms hanging over the pillows. She was in the fetal position, moving to wrap her arms around herself for warmth. He let out a sigh as he reached for blanket; he walked over and covered her body. While covering her he brushed against her skin. She felt frozen. He felt as if he should have come in sooner; that he could have protected her from the cold. He quickly placed the thought into the back of his mind, walking to the opposite corner and went to sleep.

Early next morning, as the sun just peeked over the mountains, a strange hawk flew over Masyaf, landing in the window of the room where Altaїr and Aamir were sleeping. This unusual hawk was all white with black-tip feathers on his wings. Altaїr awoke to see Aamir standing in the window, with the sunlight surrounding her body. For a moment Altaїr stared at her through the beams of light, watching as she tended to the hawk. He stood up and walked over to her.

" What an odd bird, who does it belong to?" He asked.

"It's my personal hawk, his name is Omair2."

"Problem solver?"

"Yes, he is of great help in my endeavors." Aamir pulled out a little roll of paper from Omair's ankle. As she unrolled the piece of paper she carefully slid her thumb across the paper opening it. "We should go to Damascus and speak with Tamir."

"What? How did you come up with that? The paper is blank!" Altaїr exclaimed.

"I have my ways, Altaїr. Shall we go?"

Soon they were on their way to Damascus, following the only lead they had. All the clouds from the storm had disappeared from the night before and the air returned to its dry condition as the sun hung over head. There were some plant life growing on the edge of the road and some in shade of the cliffs, near the water; they were growing strong despite the harsh desert condition. Along the way, they joined a group of travelers. It was only for a short time, but they wanted to see if they could gather any new information about Damascus or Tamir. However, it turned out that the weary travelers had no useful information, but did mention that they could have better luck finding information in the marketplace of Damascus.

A few hours before sunset they finally reached their destination. Being as it was too late to visit the marketplace, they decide to head for the Assassin's Bureau for the night. The streets were quite now with some lanterns lit, they were welcomed with open arms…sort of. Several of Altaїr's fellow Assassin's disliked him because of his ego, and even more were not fond of the idea of a female assassin. But still, the Bureau's doors were opened to them. The Bureau Leader brought out some blankets. Nights in Damascus were known for being quiet cold. The Temperature change between night and day left a bitter chill in the air as the sun went down.

Chapter Three

At the break of dawn, the marketplace was bustling with people. Shop owners were setting out their merchandise, animals were being herded through the streets, and customers lingered in the waiting. People gathered together, just to converse over the daily grind, not concerned over the items being sold. It was an average day, full of excitement.

When Altaїr awoke he noticed that Aamir was already awake, sitting up on the roof with her hawk, Omair. He stood to fold his blankets, wondering why she was always up before him. Altaїr returned the blankets to the Bureau Leader and thanked him for his hospitality,

"Peace be with you, my friend."

"And to you, Altaїr." Replied the Bureau Leader as he reached for the blankets. Aamir was feeding Omair seeds when Altaїr joined her on the roof. For a moment she didn't respond to him, she just sat there with a lamenting look on her face. As Altaїr looked further around her hood, he thought that she was about to cry. Omair called out as Altaїr came closer to them. Aamir seemed startled, jumping up to her feet. She tried to conceal her surprise, asking what took him so long. Of course Altaїr didn't like her remark,

"Well then, Aaraa3, where do we go next?" Aamir glared at him for his taunt.

"We can go to the marketplace, I'm sure we can find some information there."

Altaїr just smirked and jumped from the roof to the lower level. Aamir shook her head in annoyance and proceeded to follow him.

While in the marketplace, they split up to cover more ground. Time seemed to go by so slowly, as if a time rip caused time to skip over and over again. The task was repetitive and unproductive at best. The sun came down on them with blazing heat, this summer was usually hot with unusual rain storms. Some thought it a bad omen to have so much rain. Aamir stopped by the water well, she pulled the bucket up and dipped her soft hands into the water, cupped them and took a drink.

Altaїr happened to be passing by noticing Aamir by the well. He was watching her as the glistening water touched her lips.

Once she was finished, she turned her head in Altaїr's direction, he quickly turned away and walked into the adjacent marketplace which was covered in shade by the arched buildings over head. Embarrassed for staring at her and not having the self-discipline to keep his own thoughts in order. He was sure that she saw him, he would have to make up an excuse for why he was staring. Perhaps he would lecture her on her lack of motivation; standing around the well and his disappointment in her. As his mind trailed he over-heard some men talking behind the corner of a building.

"That Tamir! He always pushing these outrageous orders. It's impossible to fulfill them, it's just too much."

"Hush, lower your voice. Regardless of the orders, Tamir will have you killed if he knew you were talking behind his back."

"So what? At this rate I'll be dead soon anyways."

"Be still…" the one man paused and looked around, "you'll still be there at the Souk, noon tomorrow, right?"

"Eh, of course, I have a family to take care after all."

"There's no shame in it, see you there. Peace be with you." The man walked away.

"Yes, yes, peace be with you as well."

Altaїr decided to return back to the Bureau, he moved for the outside marketplace where Aamir was. He tried to catch her attention, motioning her back to the Bureau. She was at a jewelry stand, looking at a particular necklace. She was very interested in it. The chain was made of black leather with gems fixed into the band; there was a sapphire in the middle that faded into jade and then into ruby. She seemed to pay no attention to Altaїr though she should have seen him.

Altaїr approached her from behind, whispering in her ear. "We need to head back now, to talk in private." Immediately, she put the necklace down and walked back to the Bureau. Before Altaїr left, he took another glance at the necklace: the surface was rough and it had many jagged edges. _Why was she looking at this for?_ Once they returned back to the Bureau, Aamir asked the important question. "What did you find out?"

"Tamir will be at the Souk at noon, we will gain more information once we scope out the area."

"Fine, I'll go to the Souk now and see if I can't find out anything else….so you want to scope out the area for routes?"

"……." Altaїr paused for a moment, upset with her assertive behavior. He was supposed to be in charge of this mission, He was her superior in title and ability. However, he allowed her to do as she wished, he wasn't in the mood to argue;"Yes, I will, we'll meet back here at sundown, agreed?"

"Agreed."

Chapter Four

Altaїr explored every corner and path around the Souk4, checking for lines of attack and their alternate escape routes.

Aamir, on the other hand, disappeared into the shadows. The Souk was very crowded in preparation for tomorrow's display of materials to be presented before Tamir. There were only a small group of guards, directing the people where to set up their tables. The head guard, Rarul, was doing the least amount of work, sitting in the shade allowing the grunts to do all the work. He considered himself too important to be wasting time on small stuff like this.

A slight commotion broke out in the middle of the Souk. "Stupid girl, watch where you're going! Don't you know that there's an important meeting being held here tomorrow!" a man yelled. On the ground below him, was a young, beautiful girl. Rarul took notice of her right away. He made his way over to the site of the commotion; the day may have just proved itself to be interesting.

The young girl held her hands up in apology, "Please, please, I..I am sorry. I meant no disrespect, please. There…there were these men, and they were…chasing me—"

"What's going on here!" Rarul shouted.

"Ah, this woman's babbling." The man waved his hand in the air. Rarul, looked down at her, captivated by her sweet and innocent eyes. He couldn't help but be taken by them.

"Child," he started taking his hand to lift up her chin, "calm down, tell me what happened." She seemed to be relieved by this man's words and took a deep breath.

"There were these men….a few streets back, that tried to rape me." She spoke softly and grabbed Rarul's hand and started crying. Rarul couldn't help but be tempted in the situation he found himself in. He brought her in closer to him and stroked her hair.

"There, there, everything is alright now." He motioned back to his group of guards, two of which ran off to find the rapists while the others continued to work. Rarul lifted up the woman while wearing an evil smirk on his face. "You were very brave child…ah, what's your name?" he looked down at her, she looked up.

"Um, my name's Rachael, sir." She said in a low shy voice.

"Well, then…uh, Rachael. Could you please come with me so that I can make an official report? It would be of most help to me and to get these scoundrels off our fair streets." She agreed with him.

Altaїr was watching the commotion from above, he thought the poor woman was in an unfortunate situation but did nothing to help her. Of course, why would he? To intervene would only be putting the mission at risk. He had more pressing matters to attend and he could not afford such hindrances.

Rarul walked Rachael to his official quarters to take her report. They walked into Rarul's office, he sat Rachael on a bench and he sat across from her.

"Okay, Rachael, start at the beginning please."

"Well, I was walking to the marketplace to do some shopping for my ill father. My older brother is out of town taking care of our uncle's flock while he's on pilgrimage." She stopped to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Continue…" Rarul moved closer, trying to seem sympathetic.

"Well, um, a man called out from behind me. At first he tried to sell me something, but I declined. When I went to turn away two other men blocked my path, I tried to get away but they cornered me…." Rachael buried her head in her hands.

"It's okay, dear, I know it's hard." Rarul moved in close, right next to her.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't remember much…" Rarul wrapped his right arm around her, "I fought back and ran as fast as I could…and, and, that's when I ran into the Souk." He moved his left hand to her chin.

"There, there, no need to worry my dear. You're safe now and my men will catch them."

"uh, um, sir. I thank you very much, but you're very close to me. I don't think others would approve…..?"

"Hahaha, don't worry about that!" Rarul grabbed her by the throat, forcing her down on the bench. He released her throat as soon as she was restrained; he wanted to hear her pleas for freedom.

"Someone help! Please, help!" Rachael yelled but no one came to her aid. Rarul laughed at her anguish.

1 Aamir: meaning full or full of.

2 Omair: means problem solver.

3 Aaraa: meaning adoring. Altaїr is making fun of Aamir saying that she's full of adorable qualities, like a child.

4 Souk: a marketplace, a particularly big one.


	2. Chapter 5 to 7

Chapter Five

Altaїr exhausted all the routes just as the sun was about to set. The waning hours turned the sky shades of red, pink, and purple. He was up on a view point that over looked the Souk when Omair happened to fly by. He held up his left arm, as custom for calling an Assassin's hawk, Omair headed towards Altaїr; however, he didn't land on Altaїr's arm, but instead landed on the edge of the building. Omair looked at Altaїr, seemly in a taunting manner.

"Well, then, what message do you have for your master?" Altaїr reached to pick up Omair, but Omair jumped a little to the side. Omair maintained eye contact, increasing Altaїr's frustration. "Okay, you bird!" Altaїr tried to quickly grab the bird…but again the bird dodged him, this time by flying to the opposite edge of the building. Altaїr tried to catch Omair for about ten minutes before he gave up. The bird had exhausted his patients.

"You know…" he caught his breath, "you're just as bad as your master." Altaїr gave an angry, annoyed look in Omair's direction. Omair was truly trained by Aamir, it was obvious, and Altaїr realized it. But as he was about to leave, Omair flapped his wings getting Altaїr's attention and lifted his one leg which had the note on it. Altaїr is very curious about the note, all he could think about is the last time Omair brought Aamir a note….a blank piece of paper. Altaїr stalked closer, a little at a time, as Omair continue to hold out the message. Finally, Altaїr jolted Omair's leg and took out the note. Omair pecked Altaїr's hand.

"Damn!" Altaїr smacked Omair over the edge, he quickly looked over the edge worrying that he might have killed him. Not much to worry about though, Omair regained flight and left the area…of course, he left a small surprise for Altaїr too by pooping on his shoulder as he left. Altaїr felt somewhat helpless: stuck between a woman and her bird. He just let out a sigh, sat on the edge with his back to the sunset. Mimicking the motion Aamir had shown before, carefully his slid open the piece of paper. Once again it was blank!

Altaїr has never been so puzzled in his life; he turned the paper over, looked on both side of it and still couldn't figure it out. He turned the paper over to its original side and tilted it towards the last remaining sunlight and something happened. To his amazement, he saw faint blue writing, so faint that it was hardly noticeable. _So that's how she did it!_ Altaїr was impressed! If the note would happen to fall into the wrong hands they wouldn't pay so close attention to such a faint piece of writing and just dismiss it. It was unorthodox, he had to admit, but efficient. The note stated the location and the number of guards that would be at Tamir's home. Altaїr's was baffled as to why this would be important since they weren't planning on going there. Between Omair and this little note he forgot about the time, the sun had completely set, with that being the time Altaїr did a 'leap of faith' from the view point and rushed back to the Assassin's Bureau.

Back at the Bureau, Aamir was already asleep along with Omair by her side. The Bureau Leader was behind his counter with a small lantern, reading a book. Altaїr walked up to the counter.

The Bureau Leader looked up, "Ah, welcome back, _brother_." He said in a sarcastic whisper. "Aamir said that she wasn't worried about you and that you would be back when you were done with your work. Ah, but you know the others were worried about you, Altaїr, they thought something might have happened to you. Haha, not I though, Aamir and I knew better."

"Enough of that!"

"Shush!" He put his finger to his lips, "don't wake her, she's worked hard today." They both shot a glance over to Aamir, she simply shifted to her other side revealing a slight bruise on her chin. Altaїr just sighed. It was as if everyone was against him.

"Then could you tell me what she found out then?" Altaїr strained to ask.

"Well of course you already know that Tamir will be at the Souk at noon, Aamir found out that there will be 4 guards patrolling around the inside of the Souk and that Tamir will have two guards standing next to him."

"That's not a problem, this will be an easy mission."

"But remember, this isn't an assassination. You need to get Tamir away from the Souk in order to interrogate him. You should talk to Aamir tomorrow morning and work out the final details."

"Right…" Altaїr put his hand to his chin in a thinking pose.

"What is it, Altaїr?" the Bureau Leader raised an eyebrow.

"Look at this." Altaїr handed him the piece of paper that was from Omair.

The Bureau Leader took the piece of paper and looked at it, not finding anything special about this paper he looked back at Altaїr.

"It's just a piece of paper…." He replied.

"That's what I thought too. But tilt the paper a little to the left and down towards the light." Altaїr moved the paper in the Leader's hands to reveal the light blue writing.

"Aw, amazing, what skill!" the Leader was shocked, "Where did you find this?"

"It was on Omair's leg, and it's similar to the one before the Aamir got before we came here. Do you know anyone who's done secretive writing like this?"

The Bureau Leader turned away from the light to think and shifted his back to Altaїr. He moved halfway across the counter and motioned for Altaїr to move closer, he spoke in an even quieter whisper. "There was another Bureau Leader…his name was, um…let me think." He moved away looking up to think, "Ah that's right, his name was Khadin. He did something similar with his notes; however, it was never such a faint writing. I'm so impressed! I wonder who writes to her?"

"Speaking of which, what do you know of her? All Al Mualim had said is that she has proved herself countless of times."

"Ah, child, there are a few stories about her. Actually, I'm surprised you haven't heard them yourself." Altaїr waited for him to continue, "One of the stories is that she took on five Templar's at once without so much of a scratch on her person!" the Bureau let out a small chuckle.

"In possible, most skilled Assassins aren't able to do such a thing; there's no way someone like her could to it." Altaїr took the story as nonsense. "What else can you tell me about her?"

"Not much, all I know is that five years ago she came to the Acre Bureau and asked to be an Assassin. Of course this was odd; first of all, how did she know about the Assassins, and even more so how did she find them?" he pause, "The first response was obviously no. The Bureau Leader threw her out and told her not to come back. But as you might have guessed, she persisted and persisted, saying that she could prove herself and that her skills were exceptional. Well, after a few months of persisting, she got her chance.

Al Mualim went to Acre to hand her a deal, if she was able to perform to standard he would let her become an Assassin; however, if she were to fail she would be killed for her knowledge of the Assassins. She agreed and the test went on, it was three brutal days of tests and trails. At the end of those days Al Mualim couldn't deny her the title of Assassin and ever since she has been fighting alongside us."

"What else do you know of her? Where was she born? Who are her parents?"

"I don't know, Altaїr, that's all I can tell you. If you're so interested, why don't you…well, ask her yourself?"

"It's not so much that I'm _interested_ rather than knowing my surroundings."

"Of course, why would one think otherwise?" the Bureau Leader gave a smile while putting his book away.

"What do you mean: 'why would one think otherwise?'"

"Oh, it's nothing, just some rubbish I guess." Altaїr folded his arms in annoyance. "Okay, okay, it's just that one of the informers stated that you often stare at her…." The Bureau Leader raised an eyebrow back to Altaїr.

"Like I've said, I'm just interested in my surroundings. I can't say that I really trust her…he just randomly shows up at the Acre Bureau and asks to be an Assassin?" Altaїr walked back into the other room where Aamir was sleeping, he looked at her and walked to the opposite wall and went to sleep.

_Dream: two children are playing in the Garden of Paradise; they are in the lower half of the garden. He is happy, for the longest time he doesn't come 'home' angry or upset. A heavy wind blows thru the valley, they look up to see dark storm clouds coming in. They are thick and heavy, holding such tremendous weight; thunder cracks and lighting stretched across the clouds. The winds grew heavier and the clouds strengthened, soon the whole sky was black and shadows engulfed their surroundings. The boy reaches for the girl but she is being sucked into the darkness. He is unable to do anything to help her. His body goes numb and falls to the ground, the darkness lifted, he's holding his left hand in pain. There are tears in his eyes as he looks back up to the heavens. A dark man looms above him, staring. He reaches down to take the young boy's hand._

_ "This is your home, boy. Don't ever forget that." The boy took the man's hand and they returned to the castle._

Chapter Six

The next morning Aamir slept in longer than usual, giving Altaїr a chance to be up first. He waited a few minutes before waking her up, when that time past he stood over her and then took a seat on the ledge next to her. The early morning's light made her skin look so soft and touchable. He looked to her opposite side and saw Omair was also asleep. Since her guardian was still asleep he felt that he could touch her. Altaїr slowly brushed his finger against her face. The Bureau Leader happened to be looking at this particular moment. He found the development intriguing. "Interested in his surroundings?" He said to himself. It didn't take long before Omair awoke to find Altair invading his territory. Omair belted out an intense squawk, jabbing Altaїr's hand with his beak.

Altair screamed in pain. "Damn bird!" he exclaimed, this made Aamir jump awake and moved her back to the wall.

"What's going on?" she pulled her hood over her head while standing in a defensive fighting stance.

"Ah, your damn bird bit me!"

"Well, what did you do to him?" she yelled, Omair landed on her right shoulder.

"What?! I didn't do anything, that bird just attacked me!"

"I don't believe you…" Altaїr looked at her in disbelieve, "He never reacts that way unless there's danger." Aamir stepped forward as to attack; Altaїr reacted and thrust Aamir against the wall. Omair tried to defend her but Altaїr grabbed him by the throat and threw him across the room, against the other wall. Rafik (the Bureau Leader) ran out to stop Altaїr,

"That's enough there's work to be done today!"

"Be quiet!" Altaїr pushed him away and forced Aamir back against the wall, "I've had it! Between you and your damn bird, can't get ahead! Enough with these games, secret writings…Everything! I am your superior, from now on you'll listen to me!"

Aamir, infused with her own ego, pushed Altaїr back causing him to lose his balance, "If you were better at your job I wouldn't have to be here! And don't take it out on Omair…" her attention turned, "Omair?" she whistled, "come here, Omair." She scanned the room but wasn't looking at anything in particular, the bird let out a faint cry. She moved over to him up. Omair was badly hurt, he tried to move and respond, but just wasn't able to. Rafik squatted next to her and took him from her arms. She was obviously unset over Omair.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him. He's a strong bird, I'm sure he'll pull thru just fine." He smiled at her.

"Thank you for your kindness."

Rafik was heading back inside to place Omair in a pillow to rest, but Altaїr wasn't done yet. He put Aamir in a chokehold from behind. His anger was out of control.

"Altaїr stop this nonsense!" Rafik handed Omair over to an informer and tried to stop Altaїr's attack; Aamir grabbed Altaїr's arm, planting one leg while swing the other up. She swung her leg back down, using the momentum, flipping him over her and slamming him on the ground. He briefly let go of her then grabbed her arm, pulling her down with him. He wrestled with her on the ground and having a difficult time subduing her. He gained the dominate position and started to knee her in her side. She attempted to punch Altaїr in the face but came short of making contact. In an attempt to stop her, Altaїr grabbed her wrists and forced them down.

"Stop struggling and I'll let you go!" Aamir's right hand slipped from Altaїr's grip accidently triggering his hidden blade. The blade release and slid into Aamir's shoulder.

"Altaїr! That **is** enough!" Rafik pushed Altaїr off of Aamir and helped her to her feet. "Here child, let me take care of that." He looked over to Altaїr, "You, get out of here! Return when you're in your right mind, and not a moment sooner! You've done enough damage here for one morning." Altaїr started to stomp off when Aamir spoke in a low voice,

"I hate you…." She started, "I hate you, Altaїr! I don't want to talk to you ever again! I can't forgive you for what you did!" she grabbed her shoulder and moved toward Omair who was already bandaged, thanks to the Informer. Altaїr stormed off leaving Aamir to tend to her wounds. The wound itself wasn't too serious, but it would limit movement of the right arm. Rafik started to remove some of her tunic to attend to the wound. Altaїr glanced back over to Aamir. Rafik slid down the top part of the tunic and revealed deep scars on her back; Altaїr stopped for a moment in disbelief.

"Out, out, Altaїr get out!" persisted the Informer rushing him out and he continued out.

Chapter Seven

Altaїr climbed up to the roof and sat on a wooden beam. He lowered his head down to his interlaced fingers, letting out a sigh. Altaїr had many things on his mind:_ What am I doing? I almost killed that damn bird, he seems to mean a lot to her; on top of that, I could've hurt Aamir too. Speaking of which, why did my hidden blade release so easily?_ He closed his eyes…for a moment he had a flashback to Aamir's back. Altaїr could only think how painful it must have been to receive them; he closed his eyes while rubbing his face with his hands. He took a deep breath, stood up, and headed back inside. He was at the doorway inside when he started his apology.

"Aamir, I didn't mean….." he paused, his ego getting in his way, "um, for my hidden blade going off. I'll have it looked at when we go back to Masyaf." He stopped there knowing that there was much more that he should be apologizing for. Aamir didn't say a word; she glanced towards Altaїr's feet and turned around to tend to Omair. He realized that she wouldn't talk to him, or at least right now, and they had a mission to complete.

"Back to the issue at hand, we know that Tamir will be at the Souk at noon checking on the materials progress. We need to get him alone afterwards and get him to talk…"

"Aamir says that she can get him alone afterwards, you could follow Tamir to his home and meet Aamir there." Said Rafik.

"How does she plan to do that?" Altaїr asked.

"She has her ways, you both should go now, it's almost noon." Rafik tried to rush them out, he knew if they spent any more time there, then they would miss their chance to catch Tamir. Altaїr was almost tempted to continue the conversation, but knew that they had more pressing matters at hand. Aamir, being a step ahead of him, walked pass him while putting her hood up over her head. "Oh, and Altaїr, rumor has it that Robert de Sable may be in town. If you see him, avoid confrontation."

Altaїr nodded as they made it to the roof and went their separate ways: Altaїr moved through the streets to the Souk and Aamir went by rooftops, moving towards Tamir's homestead. Altaїr was surprised that she still able to move at her normal speed, even though she was obviously in pain. Altaїr figured that there was still plenty of time before he had to be at the Souk, despite being rushed out, so he went to the smaller marketplace first. There were baskets, clothes, jewelry, and many other common items. About fifteen minutes went by and he was heading back to the Souk when a merchant caught his attention.

"You, you boy!" Altaїr looked over at him, "Yes you, come here." The man motioned Altaїr over to his booth. "You are a good looking young man, I bet you have a woman you wish to impress?" This man was a jewelry merchant and it so happened to be the stand where Aamir was looking at the other day.

"Yeah, something like that…." Altaїr trailed off.

"Well then, take a look at this." Ironically he pulled out the same necklace Aamir seemed to take an interest in. "This piece is made of rare gems that fused together, this is a one of a kind, there's no other like it. I assure you, that you won't find anything else like it in the world!" the man displayed it to Altaїr. Altaїr looked it over, it was a very nice piece he would admit.

"I don't know…." Altaїr tried to reason why he would buy it; however, he did have plenty of reason to apologize to Aamir.

"I assure this necklace here would win her heart! And, just because you seem like a honorable young man, I'll even give it to you for half price!"

"Well, I'm not looking to 'win her heart,' though I do need to apologize to her."

"Then look no further. This piece here will fix everything. She will love this piece even after death."

After some time thinking about it, Altaїr did decide to buy it. And it cost him a pretty penny too. The merchant thanked him for his purchase. Altaїr placed the necklace into his pouch and then continued to the Souk. By the time he got there Tamir was almost done with inspection, when he did finish Altaїr was sure to follow him back to his home.


	3. Chapter 8 to 12

Chapter Eight

Tamir walked through the main gates of his home, Altaїr couldn't follow him any further. He began to examine the outside of the home, hoping to locate Tamir's room. He was wondering if Aamir would signal him or if he would have to find it himself. Tamir entered the courtyard, gave some orders to the guards and continued inside. As Altaїr circled the building for the third time, he saw one of the messenger hawks from the Bureau; however, it wasn't Omair. Altaїr went across the street, climbed a ladder, and jumped from one rooftop to Tamir's homestead.

When Altaїr climbed through the window he saw Aamir well in charge of the situation: she had killed all the surrounding guards and had Tamir tied up ready to interrogate him. Realizing that he didn't need to do anything, he just sat back and let her take care of it.

"What do you want?" asked Tamir.

"Where's Jubair?" She asked, Tamir looked at her and then at Altaїr.

"Ah, I see, you're the Assassins. Ha, don't think I'll tell you anything!" Aamir punched him across the face. Blood dipped from his mouth, "Child…you don't know what you're getting into."

Altaїr sat on the window seal with his arms crossed. There was no need to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the show; jumping in if needed.

"Tell me where he is or else!" Aamir yelled, Altaїr noticed that she seemed over offensive in dealing with this subject.

"Or else what?" Tamir taunted. Accustomed with proving herself, Aamir grabbed Tamir's shirt collar. With his silk shirt crumpled in her grasp, she lifted him up from the floor. Altaїr, still sitting on the window ledge, was curious on whether or not she was actually going to hit him again. She raised her other hand and formed it into a fist, she came down hard with it hitting Tamir across the face. Blood splattered onto the floor, Tamir was no longer as taunting to say the least. She continued to beat, slap, and kick Tamir as he shouted out for the guards. Of course all the guards were taken care of long before this point in time.

Tamir soon realized this and resorted to shouting out all of the profanities that he could think of. A few moments later Tamir was finally exhausted, Aamir sat Tamir up and pressed him against the wall, moving in close to his face. He could feel her breath on his skin. She was about to ask again, about Jubair, when Tamir spoke.

"It's you…he sent you, didn't he?" He was coughing up blood between words and was breathing heavily as blood dipped from his face onto his silk clothes. She moved her face back some in shock, Altaїr's interest grew as well.

"Who sent her?" Altaїr inquired as he walked from the window ledge to them.

"Yes, I remember you now!" Aamir punched him once more, throwing Tamir to the ground.

"I must of hit him too hard, he's hallucinating!" retorted Aamir, Tamir's hands became untied and now he was on his knees.

"There's no hallucinating…" he laughed, "I figured this would come back to haunt me…" he moved to his feet and chuckled again. He was obviously dazed from the beating, but he seemed to know exacting what he was talking about.

"Listen, child, me and my brothers didn't know what would happen. The 'mission' called for death, and I'm sorry about your father, dear….I'm sure you want revenge, but Jubair has been hiding ever since, I don't know where he's at now. If you go to Jerusalem, you might find some information."

"Then we'll go to Jerusalem……" Aamir's persona changed, she seemed cold and distant. Tamir definitely hit a nerve with her. Aamir calmly walked over to Tamir and wiped some of the blood from his face, took another step in, and finished off Tamir with her hidden blade.

"Let's head back to the Bureau and report, after that we should head to Jerusalem."

They left Tamir's dead body laying there bleeding out on the floor. They did a 'leap of faith' into the bale of hay and then continued back to the Bureau.

Chapter Nine

Walking down the Souk streets, Altaїr noticed that it was unusually quiet for this time of day. Normally, there would be hundreds of people at the shops and roaming around; there would be children at play and even some cattle being moved through the crowd. Altaїr had an uneasy feeling; he kept his thoughts to himself. They continued to walk down the street, when they heard something from behind them:

"There! There they are! Assassins!" shouted a Guard from a rooftop. The both of them turned to see the guard who shouted from behind them; he was an archer. The guard placed an arrow in his bow and pulled the string back, taking his stance. Others joined him. Aamir and Altaїr sprinted away as a rain of arrows fell close behind them; down the street, up the building and across rooftops. But no matter where they ran, there seemed to be an endless wave of guards. Aamir and Altaїr were able to kill a few guards; however, their numbers weren't decreasing.

Altaїr stopped, trying to find the upper hand in this dismal situation; Aamir was on an opposite rooftop that was close to him. She almost seemed to be running blind, but was having no trouble taking care of the guards. One of the archers saw Altaїr's hesitation and drew back his string. He raised his bow to the target and released the string with a loud vibration. The arrow flew strong through the air and distance between them grew closer. Aamir's attention was automatically drawn to the released arrow.

The arrow was about to go through Altaїr's chest. "Altaїr, look out!" shouted Aamir, as she jumped from her rooftop to his, just grabbing the arrow before it pierced him. She did a forward roll and rolled back onto her feet snapping the arrow in her hand. Altaїr was impressed, he'd never seen that before.

"Altaїr, I saw an underground path a few roads back. If we can get there we could collapse the entrance and be done with this."

"Okay, lead the way."

They raced back to where Aamir said the underground path was; they barely made it in and collapsed a few meters of the entrance, stopping the guards in their track. There was a cloud of dust from the collapsing entrance, once the dust was cleared there was very little light, barely enough to see the rest of the path. Altaїr felt along the wall to follow the path heading towards the dim light in the distance.

"Argh!" Aamir fell down to the floor, grabbing her leg.

"What's wrong?" asked Altaїr.

"There's an arrow in my leg…" she moved to lean against the wall. The arrow went completely through her leg, the blood exit the wound and traveled down the arrow's edge and dripped off the arrowhead onto the ground: she couldn't walk.

"Let me take a look…" Altaїr bent down and used his hand to feel around her leg, examining the wound. "Okay, I think I can take it out."

"Do what you need to……."

Altaїr gave Aamir a stick wrapped in a semi-thin rope, to bite down on for when he took out the arrow. Then he laid out some medical paste and a clean wrap to his side. Aamir bit down on the stick as Altaїr broke the arrow as close to her leg as possible then quickly pulled the arrow through the leg. He then proceeded to clean and wrap the wound, she was lucky that the arrow just barely missed her femur. Aamir dropped the stick from her mouth, breathing heavily.

"Are you able to walk?" asked Altaїr.

" I think so….." she answered on an exhale.

Aamir stood up, putting most of her weight on her left leg; however, she wasn't able to walk by herself. Altaїr grabbed her hand and put it over his should and held her by the waist. He practically lifted her off her feet, deciding that it would be easy to carry her on his back he turned away from her and allowed her to climb on.

She hated the idea of having to rely on him but agreed with Altaїr's decision and climbed on his back. He lifted her up and headed down the path.

Chapter Ten

Altaїr stumbled a few times but over all didn't have a problem navigating in the dim light which was slowly diminishing. It was dusk by the time they reached the exit; there was a lush oasis with a lake and even some wild life. It was the outskirts of Damascus and it didn't seem like the guards realized where the tunnel led. They were safe…for now. They still needed to go back to the Bureau to report. Altaїr laid Aamir under one of the trees near the river to re-attend to her wound.

"How do you feel?" he asks as he takes a better look at her wound.

"Just fine…all considering." She moves her hand down her leg to feel the wound; her hand slimmed across Altaїr's. "Oh, sorry." She quickly moved her hand back, she seeming embarrassed.

"So…"Altaїr paused, "what was Tamir saying? He seemed to recognize you?"

"He was just a blabbering, dying old man. It must have been some blood-lost hallucination." Aamir dismissed Altaїr's question, Altaїr nodded his head in agreement. The sun was almost completely set so they decided to stay in the oasis for the night. Desert nights are very cold compared to its counterpart; since Aamir couldn't walk, Altaїr went to collect wood and started a fire. They really didn't have the proper materials to spend the night out; they would have to use each other for body heat.

The fire burned far into the night as Aamir and Altaїr laid next to it. Looking to the sky, Altaїr could point out some constellations. Aamir was lying on her side facing away from him, apparently sleeping. A smile crept across his face as he realized that she's shivering from the cold but was to head strong to say anything. He rolled over next to her and placed his arm around her. _She doesn't have much to keep her warm: no fat…no muscle…breast?_ Altaїr blushed at the thought, it was true though, her whole body was petit. He slid his other arm under her head. Aamir's head fit perfectly in the nook of his arm. Altaїr leaned his body a little more over hers, his arm around her; he felt so comfortable there that he laid his head on her shoulder.

Dream: _"Arya! Arya!" a boy yelled from across the Garden. His white robe fluttered in the wind as he stood up on the castle's roof._

_ "Down here! Come find me!" she yelled up to him. He climbed down from the tall castle and gave chase. This young man was extremely skill and had no trouble giving chase amongst the small statues and brushes. However, the young woman, Arya, had no trouble in evading him. One would even dare to say that she matched his skill, only in climbing and evading though. Their laugher echoed thru the Garden as they ran about. Arya missed her step and was tackled, lightly, by the boy. They rolled down the hill, he rolled on top of her and she puts her arms around his neck giving him a smile._

_ He stroked her face with his hand and brought his face close to hers. His nose brushed against her cheek as his heart raced: thud, thud. Thud, thud. His breath grew heavy as their lips touched: they kissed. Her kiss was like fresh spring water in the most beautiful oasis lifted above the clouds and beyond Heaven, so far beyond Heaven that not even God could reach it. Their lips parted and his illusion faded; he reaches around her waist and brought his body closer to hers. She removed his hood and gently felt the fuzz from his head. She mentioned that he would need another haircut soon._

_ A voice called from the Master's room, the voice sounded angry. The boy stalked away from Arya, moving closely to the hill side hoping that the Master wouldn't see him. She followed suit, but heading towards the lower portion of the Garden to be out of sight, not knowing that the Master could see the both of them from where he was._

The next morning Aamir awoke before Altaїr did, there was nothing left of the fire except for some smoldering embers. She noticed that Altaїr's head was lying on her shoulder; it was weird to her that he would find himself so comfortable around her. She threw her arm up and tossed him off of her. Altaїr was startled awake.

"What?" he asked. She just glared at him as she sat up then turned away. "Fine! I'll let your ass freeze next time." he stood up and kicked some dirt towards her. He poured some water on the embers and then continued to bury the evidence of them even being there.

Chapter Eleven

It took a long few hours to return to the city, the city was heavily guarded now after the death of Tamir. It would be hard for the both of them to sneak back in, with Aamir's injury. They agreed that Altaїr would go back to the Bureau and report, letting them know that they would be moving to Jerusalem to continue investigation. Altaїr used groups of scholars to reach the Bureau; he climbed the ladder and reported to Rafik.

"Very well, safety and peace Altaїr." Rafik answered.

"I have something else to ask of you before I go."

"Don't worry, Omair will be fine—"

"Not about the bird, about Aamir."

"What news have you, then?"

"During the interrogation of Tamir, he said that he knew her and something about someone sending her? Could he have meant Al Mualim?"

"Not likely, however that is very interesting, I wonder who he could've been referring to? When, or if I do, I'll send the information to you."

"Thank you, Brother." They bowed to each other and Altaїr left.

Aamir was at the stables outside of the gates attending to their horses when Altaїr showed up. He helped her to get saddled on the horse, he then saddled his horse and they rode to Jerusalem. It took them a long time to reach their destination because Aamir couldn't travel fast in fear of reopening her wound. Aamir appeared to be getting weaker by the day and they still were a day and a half from Jerusalem. Up ahead there was a river with a small village; they headed there in search for an apothecary1.

Aamir collapsed from her horse and hit the ground with a loud thud; Altaїr dismounted and rushed over to her. He pulled her hood back to see that her face was flushed and she was running a fever; her chest raised and fell quickly. His also realized that both her wounds had reopened, blood dripped from the lacerations. Altaїr laced the horses together then saddled Aamir in front of him as they finished the last few miles to the village.

Once there, Altaїr asked for the apothecary; the villagers were very kind to not only direct him to the place but also escorted him there as well. The horses were put out to the stables as he took Aamir inside. The doctor told Altaїr to lay her on the table, the doctor examined her carefully, being respectful to the fact that he was working with a female. He informed Altaїr that she was very weak and that she would need medicine; however, he didn't have any that she needed.

The doctor told Altaїr that if he would want the medicine that he would have to go up on the mountainside to collect small herbal flowers. Altaїr agreed and asked what the flowers looked like.

"They will be a pink flower with four petals; you can usually find them on the cliffs of the mountains. Be careful, though, it can be very dangerous."

It took almost five hours for Altaїr to collect all the necessary flowers to make the medicine. He returned and the doctor made the medicine; Altaїr paid the man and thanked him for his help. He gave some to Aamir, the medicine was so well made that she woke up immediately.

"Uh, what happened?"

"You passed out from a fever and right now you need to rest." She laid back on the table.

Later that night, Aamir bathed in a lake revealing multiple scars on her back. Altaїr was bathing on the opposite side, when he happened to see her. She was resting on a rock obliviously exhausted from the fever; Altaїr swam over to her and taking a washcloth and cleaned her back. He allowed her to lean against him, her back to his chest. Most of her body was submerged underneath the water line.

He wrapped his left arm around her and placed his hand on her left shoulder, her head resting on his shoulder. Altaїr took the cloth and rubbed softly around her neck, unintentionally he brought down his head to her neck. His hand, with cloth, started moving down her body over her breast, he was ashamed to think that they were bigger then he thought. He let go of the cloth, it floated in the vast abyss of the lake, drifting down and down. Aamir turned to face Altaїr, her eyes misty as if she were looking through him. He pushed her against the rock and caressed her entire body,

"Altaїr….." she said under her breath, their bodies met, soft and smooth. Her heart beat with a thud, thunk. Thud, thunk.

Chapter Twelve

The water tenderly rippled from their motion and the moon's reflection shimmered in the lake. Their surrounding grew so quiet that the water's movement was the only thing that could be heard. A couple minutes pasted, Aamir was going flush from the amount of heat coming from their bodies. Altaїr was lost in the moment, his body tingled.

"Altaїr…" she breathed his name again, he stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Please stop…." She pushed him away.

"Um…I'm sorry Arya." Altaїr pulled out, in a daze.

"What did you call me?" Aamir snapped, waking Altaїr out of his daydream.

"Uh, Aamir!" He moved further away, becoming conscious of what he was doing, putting his hand over his mouth.

Aamir, infuriated, swam to the shore and swiftly dressed herself, slight tears streamed down her face. Altaїr followed her and did the same,

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing!" He tried to resolve the situation quickly.

"Get away from me! I'm still not talking to you for earlier!" she covered her head with her hood. Altaїr was fuming now, despite his prior feelings,

"I've been doing all the work! It was _me_ that pulled that arrow from your leg! It was _me_ that wrapped your wound! And, damn it, it was _me_ that risked my life on the mountain cliffs to get the medicine for your fever! I don't care if you don't talk to me; I don't care if you die!"

Aamir stopped in her tracks, more tears ran down her face. She bit her tongue, saddle the horse and rode away. Altaїr cursed himself as he cleaned up the camp site. It wasn't until now that he noticed the quietness of the surroundings. There was a presents there, a foreign presents.

"Who's there?" he called out…no answer. Again he called out and there was still no answer. Altaїr grew uneasy as he packed the rest of his things and took chase after Aamir. The air grew lighter the farther he went from the oasis, he looked back to the oasis and saw a figure looming from its shadows. When Altaїr stopped his horse to get a better look, a sort of fog came over the figure and the figure disappeared. He put the issue on the 'back burner' and processed to go after Aamir.

_She must be hauling ass; I should've got up to her by now. Argh, why did I call her Arya? She's nothing like her, not in the slightest._ He couldn't understand his thoughts, he has really even thought of Arya for a…long time. Miles from the oasis, Altaїr found Aamir's horse; however, Aamir wasn't on it. He grabbed the horse and was softly talking to it.

"Where's she at, huh? Where did that woman go?" the horse reared his head to the left then to the right and started to walk away a little and then stopped to look back at Altaїr.

"Sigh, I hate animals." The horse couldn't answer his question. Suddenly, over head, there was squawk that echoed thru the night sky; it was Omair. He was up and flying just as well as before being tossed against a wall. All that Altaїr could think of is that his eyes were about to be pecked out. Omair got Altaїr attention and took him to Aamir; she was passed out on the side of the road, apparently she fell from her horse again due what was left of her fever. He knew that he said he didn't care, but couldn't help to feel sorry for her.

He mounted her on her horse, tying her hands to the saddle, and continued to Jerusalem, by morning they were at the city's main gates. It was certainly a site, not because it was the Holy City, but because it was infested with Templar Knights…the Assassin's mortal enemy. 

1 Apothecary: pharmacist/pharmacy.


	4. Chapter 13 to 17

Chapter Thirteen

There was no way in or out, even the most mundane person was thoroughly checked before entering the city. Altaїr was frustrated, nothing seemed to go his way. It was as if a wall of mud surrounded him. Aamir awoke,

"What's this?" she asked angrily, tugging on the strips that bound her to the saddle.

"I didn't want to get hit for anything…." He trailed off, scanning the city's outer wall.

"I thought you didn't care if I died?" she taunted.

"And I thought you weren't talking to me." Altaїr retorted back.

She again pulled on the ropes, trying to undo them, to no avail. Omair heard Aamir while flying over head and landed on the saddle. He brushed up against Aamir's hand. Altaїr looked over and saw that she was happy to see him doing well. Omair tried to peck at the ropes to free his master, but the ropes were too thick for him to peck through. Aamir simply stroked Omair's neck with her index finger, a sign to tell him everything was okay. Altaїr could feel Omair's eyes glaring at him for the mistreatment of his master.

"It doesn't look like we'll be able to get in…" Altaїr paused, examining the gates to find a way in. However, no matter where he looked, the gates were tightly guarded. A strange wind blew carrying heavy, dark rain clouds. Again, this unusual summer has brought this strange rain their way. A brisk drizzle of rain fell to the ground. The water was cold yet soothing.

They headed towards the stables. Altaїr dismounted and tied his horse before tying Aamir's. Altaїr untied Aamir's hands allowing her to unsaddle. Omair was sitting on Aamir's shoulder waiting for his chance to attack. To his dismay, she never gave any sign or signal to do so.

"I know a way in…if you're interested?" Aamir asked.

Altair let out another sigh. "Of course I'm interested. What do you have in mind?" Altaїr spoke in a voice low and soft, but agitated.

"There's an underground tunnel near the waterway. We can use it to gain entrance into the city."

"How do you know about all of these underground tunnels?" Altaїr inquired.

"I have my ways…shall we go then?"

"Lead the way." He held his hands out as to be courteous.

They walked along the water's edge, out of site from the Templar Knights. Due to the heavy winds, the water was splashing violently against the rocks causing their trip to be even more dangerous. They slid across a few rocks but were able to make it to the entrance of the tunnel. The tunnel was similar to the one in Damascus. It was simple in design, with some wooden beams for support and mud and clay that made up the walls. Darkness filled the passageway, not allowing any light to enter.

Aamir was leading the way with ease; as for Altaїr, he wasn't having the same luck. He was tripping over small rocks and stumbling over little raises over the ground. Altaїr couldn't figure out what was going through Aamir's mind. What did she think about what happened back at the lake? She didn't seem mad at him, or was she?

"Listen, about what happened back at the oasis…?" he wasn't sure how to finish his sentence.

"I don't care about it, there's a more important situation at hand." She replied. Altaїr was surprised at her response.

"Revenge?" he asked. Aamir stopped causing him to run into her. He thought that she was about to say something or hit him, but she didn't. They continued further down the tunnel. Soon there was a slight glow coming from within the tunnel. It was still very dim and didn't give much light.

"We'll hit the main corridor soon." Aamir said and soon enough, the light grew brighter and brighter. By this time, Altaїr could hear a low rumble of voices coming from the main corridor. Aamir seemed to know where she was going, but she hadn't said anything about others being down here nor did she seemed worry about people being here. Altaїr was starting to distrust her and her secrets.

The tunnel opened out to a ledge that hung over the main corridor. The corridor itself was made of stone that had a vast, open main floor with stairs from the main floor leading to each of its three upper levels. These corridors were once used as an escape route for the important city officials during the First Crusades. Today, no one was even aware of their existence.

Chapter Fourteen

They hid themselves near the ledge, lying on the ground as they eavesdropped on the group. There was one voice that rose above the others. He was giving orders to his men to secure the area. Altaїr thought this was odd; if these ruins were mostly unknown, then why were there people down here? Aamir's eyes shifted, trying to find a way around them.

"Wait," Altaїr moved closer, "I know that voice…" Aamir was focusing on the voice as well. It sounded familiar to her too. She sighed heavily, in despair as she stood up in plain sight.

"What are you doing?" Altaїr whispered as he attempted to pull her back down. His hand slipped from her wrist as if it were covered in water. The longer portion of her tunic fluttered behind her as she walked down the stairs.

"Ah, look what the rain brought in!" a voice called from below. It was now that Altaїr recognized the voice.

"Robert de Sable!" Altaїr stood up behind Aamir, his temper flared at his mortal enemy. Robert allowed the Assassins to meet him center the corridor. Aamir seemed to drift off in thought while Altaїr was ready for confrontation.

"Ara1, how good to see you again, especially after all these years." Robert laughed.

"What?" Altaїr shifted his glance between the two of them, "You've met?"

"Why of course? I would think that I know my own little Ara." Robert gave an evil glare to Aamir.

"Aamir!" Altaїr grabbed Aamir by either shoulder, "Explain what he means by that! Are you a traitor?" he looked her strait in the eyes; shock covered his face as he saw tears stream down her face once more.

"I'm sorry…Altaїr." She stood out right and stabbed him in the stomach with her hidden blade. Altair grunted as he fell to the floor; his left hand covered the wound.

"I've made a deal with the Templars, only to get my revenge, understand that?"

He looked down at the blood which covered his hand and then back at her, her face now blurred. The last thing he saw was Robert de Sable walking up to Aamir, she turned away from him, and they both walking away. Omair even stopped by Altaїr's side, as if to pay his respects; in a sense. _Blackness, emptiness, nothingness._

_ Sunlight streamed through the curtains, into a dimly lit room. Altaїr runs in quickly to the back of the house. A girl sat under a blanket; he comes next to her and brushes his hand against her face. She sat still, with no emotion on her face. He realized what had happen; she had lost the baby. Altaїr was enthralled months back when he first found out that his love was pregnant. There could have been many complications throughout the pregnancy, but no one was expecting a miscarriage. He held her close; they were going to run away together after the baby was born. Now they had no reason to. In fact, he had grown tired of this relationship, but still, he stayed close for that love that he once had for her. _

_Time pasted and they grew further apart. His lover developed hatred towards the Brotherhood; she hated them with a passion. When the Assassins ran into misfortune, it was her they blamed. It was said that she was involved in actions that brought about the death of many skilled Assassins._

_Blood drips from fresh cut wounds, it streams down the body: from the shoulder blades, down the back, circling around the thigh and alongside the cafe. The back is cut into pieces with flesh hanging off. One of the legs was broken at the knee, the bone was sticking out. A poison was poured over the face and in the eyes._

_ Crystal blue water washes on the shore, brushing against a figure. A man walks over in curiosity to find a body lying in the water as rain fell from the heavens. The body was half submerged in the river. He saw how badly twisted and mangled the body was, hardly keeping its shape any longer. Not sure if they were even alive, he reaches over and nudges the body with his boot. No reaction. He tries again, this time the head shifted some. The eyes opened and slightly glanced at the man. The man noticed that this person still had the will to live. He ordered his men to pick the body and to take it to the camp._

Chapter Fifteen

A month had passed and the child was beginning to heal. The man, Robert de Sable, didn't think that she would live more than a few days after he found her. The child was resting in a bed, her eyes were wrapped and her leg was in a splint. Robert walked in throwing the tent's flap to one side. The girl propped herself up at the noise,

"It's okay child, it's only me." He walked over towards her as she relaxed back into bed. "How do you feel?" he continued.

"Wishing for death..." Her voice was low.

"You shouldn't say things like that, Ara. God must have kept you alive for a reason."

"Ara?"

"Oh, since you won't tell me what your name is, so I made one up for you. Furthermore, when I found you it was raining and we haven't had any rain for months, so I named you Ara."

"It doesn't matter what you call me." She turned away.

"Now, now, you seem to be a very strong young woman." He paused to look at her from the corner of his eye, "After all, you did survive whatever misfortune that happened to you?"

She threw a cup of water at him and shouted, "What good is it to be alive when I can't do anything…not even revenge!"

"Is that what you want…revenge?" Robert motioned for a guard to enter; Ara turned away once more, grabbing the blanket in her fists. She knew that it would be impossible for her, especially in the condition she was in now.

Robert de Sable was an ingenious man. He knew that she wanted to claim that revenge with her own hands.

"Ara, sit up for me." He asked.

She sat up, though she didn't like the situation she was in. She knew that she owed him at least some cooperation, for saving her life…this Templar. Robert motioned for the guard to sit on the bed next to Ara while he sat in a chair in front of her. The guard removed her helmet; Robert gripped Ara's hands and placed them on the soldier's face.

"This is Maria, she has been fighting beside me for a few years now…"

"Maria? She?" Ara was surprised. Maria didn't say a word.

"Yes, I saw that she had the passion and willingness to serve, just like any man I've met before her. I allowed her to join our ranks and even taught her to fight. I'll be willing to do the same for you…"

Ara slowly lowered her hands as tears flooded from under her bandages. She had only thought of the things she could no longer do, focused only on her limitations. Her body was torn, her leg was mangled, and most importantly...

"How do you expect to do anything with me when I'm in this condition?"

"No worries, all in time…however, I was wondering…?"

"Please, I'll do anything!" she reached out and grabbed Robert by both hands. He had given her hope; a hope that she might once again claim what she lost.

"Listen…I know where you came from and I know what happened to you." Ara tensed and froze, he continued, "Will you be able to betray the ones you love?"

"…Ones I love? I no longer have any." She sat back in the bed, Maria stood up.

"Okay then, once you're able to stand we'll begin your training." Robert placed his hands on either side of her head. He then slid his thumb across her cheek bone wiping away her tears. Then he changed the bandages from around her eyes and put her to sleep.

Chapter Sixteen

A few more weeks had passed; Ara was able to walk but was having trouble maneuvering around the camp. She was tasked with doing small chores until she was able to walk without a crutch. Maria was finishing the patrol rotation when she noticed Ara washing laundry. Maria walked up behind her and was about to tap Ara on her shoulder,

"Yes?" Ara turned back toward Maria.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Well I didn't know that it was you, specifically, though I did hear you walk up."

"I see, that's quite interesting…" Maria was impressed; she didn't think that Ara would have heard her coming up. It's not a normal quality that people have. Later that night after the camp was asleep, Maria was talking with Robert about how Ara could tell when people are around and he, like Maria, was interested in this development. The next morning Robert called Ara over to him,

"Hold this…" he handed her a sword, she grabbed it firmly in her hands.

"What is this?" she asked, "It's a sword, but it's not as heavy as the others."

Robert was surprised that she could tell what it was and she was right about the blade. This sword was made similar to that of the Assassin's; however, it was made with a Templar design. Robert continued to instruct her on how to handle a sword and told her that no matter what she was doing to always carry this sword with her. Ara's leg was still in the splint and even some of her wounds were not fully healed, but all the same, they started training that day.

A year had passed since she was drug from the cold waters of the river; from the time that they taught her to fight. And through it all, she was intricately plotting her revenge. She combed over the details with painfully sharp precision and maliciousness. Now came the time to learn how to fight in battle. Ara was only able to fight one-on-one, but had never actually fought in real combat with multiple opponents.

Ara could maneuver around people and could sense her surroundings, now it was time to put her skills to the test. There was an upcoming battle and Robert asked Ara to fight beside him. She was honored; she never knew the respect of being "equal" to a man, but Robert gave it without a second thought. In fact, many of the other soldiers had respect for her as well.

Maria and Ara were saddled next to Robert de Sable on the battlefield. The clouds darkened as the wind grew in strength. An ominous aura loomed over the field. Death was waiting in the wings.

"See, Ara…you bring the rain." Robert whispered towards her. Ara didn't respond.

The rival army was ready to march on the opposite side of the battlefield. The rain fell, as if to order the charge. The battle ensued. Swords clashed and sparks flew as the steel met together with each dreadful impact.

The rain was so heavy that the ground turned to mud; horses and people alike were unable to stay up. Thunder roared throughout the sky and the lighting illuminated the battlefield.

One of the enemy soldiers attacked Ara's horse, throwing her to the ground. She was slightly stunned by the impact. She turned to face her attacker, but it was already too late. His sword came down on her shoulder. She tried to retaliate but missed. Robert was unable to get to her in time when the second blow came down, this time it hit her side. Ara was in much pain, but still tried to get up. The enemy was about to give the final blow when Maria came up behind him and ran through him.

Not soon after that, the battle ended. Ara was carried to the medical tent. She felt that she had disgraced Robert; with him being such a great leader and fighter, taking the time he did to train her. And how did she repay him; by failing in battle. Robert entered the medical tent,

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Alive…" Ara answered.

"I see." Robert could tell how she felt, for failing in battle. Once she was done with her duties, Maria joined Ara in the medical tent. Ara had grown attached to Robert and Maria. They were always there to help her, and looked after her in a way that made her think of them as her siblings.

Another year had passed; Robert was preparing for his first attack on Masyaf. They were in the "War Room" planning their attack. Robert had asked that Ara be present with them when deciding their plan of action. Ara didn't speak or make any motion as to what was being discussed. When the meeting was over Robert spoke with her,

"Do you have any issue with what we're planning?"

"No, I just have a request if you don't mind?"

"What is it?"

"I ask that if my father is still there, that he shouldn't be killed…"

"I thought you said it didn't bother you to fight against your loved ones?"

"Yes, but my father…" she paused, "he taught me some of the techniques that the Assassins learned. And I owe him for that." She was trying to hide her emotions.

"I understand, no wonder you picked everything up so quickly. Very well, your father may live, but don't forget our agreement."

"I won't, you needn't worry about that."

Chapter Seventeen

A month later, the attack on Masyaf went on as schedule. It was morning and the people were just waking up. Blood of the Templars, the Assassins, and the innocent alike, fell upon the ground. Ara and her team went straight to her father's old home, he was still alive; the entire group knew that her father was to be kept alive.

Once the group arrived at her father's house, they busted down the door and entered. Ara was in the doorway with her father, opposite of her, his sword in hand.

"What's this? A young boy leading your group? What foolishness!"

"No, it's not. Father…" Ara removed her hood.

"…My daughter…you're still alive?" he was speechless as he dropped his sword. He moved towards her, reaching out to embrace her. With his attention elsewhere, he was unaware that her group was surrounding him. Jubair, being a part of this group, drew his sword and walked behind Ara's father.

"My dear child, I'm so happy to know that you're okay, but why—" He coughed a warm liquid landed on Ara's face, she noticed it as blood.

"Father!" Ara was unsure of what just happened. Jubair had thrust his sword through her father's back and then pulled it out. Ara's father collapsed in her arms, his weight pulled her to the ground with him.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, "We had a deal!"

"Tough luck about your deal" Jubair snarled. "Burn the place to the ground let nothing be left standing." Jubair ordered.

They started to scatter the flames around the house, letting the blaze spread until the house was engulfed. Ara could feel the heat as her tears streamed down her face, falling onto her father's lifeless corpse. In the midst of the action, Ara flew at Jubair, enraged. Her father was in charge of record keeping, on the side, he would do research on cryptic writing. Now all of his works was going up in flames. Jubair and Ara exchanged a few blows before she was apprehended by the rest of group.

She was escorted back to camp and was handed over to Robert de Sable, charged with betrayal. When she was presented in front of Robert her hands were tied behind her back. Those escorting her had roughed her up, under Jubair's orders. In this charade of a trail, Jubair stated that Ara tried to betray them in league with her father. With any retaliation that Ara tried to make, speaking out against the false accusations, she was quickly silenced with a swift punch to the gut.

Finally, it was her turn to speak on her own behalf. She held to her version of what had happened; how Jubair killed her father, set the house on fire, and tried to frame her.

Jubair laughed at the accusation, "Please," he paid the proper respect, as a soldier, to de Sable, "She is an Assassin, born and raised. She is a traitor, and is a threat to us all!" he pointed his finger at her.

"No, I'm not! You're a liar and a murderer!"

"I'm sorry, Ara…" Robert paused, "You cannot call someone a murderer when he kills in the heat of battle." Robert looked away. "Also, there are more men against you than for you. I cannot believe that so many of my own men would lie to me. Take her away. I'll decide on her punishment tomorrow morning."

"What?" Ara said under her breath, "How can you believe them…over me!"

Robert motioned them to take her away, Ara was hurt, she was dedicated to Robert for saving her and so much more. Now he just dismissed her like a common peasant. They took her to a holding tent and tried her to a pole in the center. Jubair followed and when the other guard left he gave her one last painful insult along with a kick to her side.

"You'll go up in flames like your father."

Later that night, when most of the soldiers were asleep, Maria made her way to the holding tent. She snuck into the tent from behind, after the patrol had past and awoke Ara from her slumber.

"Ara, Ara, wake up." She whispered. It took a couple seconds of nudging before she awoke. Her body was worn out due to the beating and lack of food.

"What…" Ara awoke, "Ah, Maria, what are you doing here!"

"Be quiet or you'll alert the guards…" Maria said in a rough whisper.

"Sorry, what are you doing here?" she asked again in a lower voice.

"A guard came forward confirming your story. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do now since it already reached King Richard. But Robert confronted Jubair about it and Jubair ran. Robert wants me to bring you to him, will you come?"

"I understand his position, despite my personal feelings. I'll go to him."

They snuck back to Robert's tent at the time he was bathing, Maria flinched some and Ara blushed because she knew what he was doing. He apologized for his appearance and covered up not expecting them back so soon.

"Ara, please forgive me for what happened, I didn't know what Jubair was planning."

"I understand, think nothing of it."

"You have no hard feelings towards me?"

"No, it wasn't you who put a sword through my father…" she trailed off.

"Okay. Unfortunately, you cannot stay here, but I won't execute you either."

They came up with a new agreement, considering the new issues that had come to light. Apparently there was a new conspiracy against the Templars, one involving Jubair, Tamir, and many others. As for their arrangement, Ara was to dispose of those involved with this conspiracy, in exchange for both Al Mualim's, and Jubair's head. Ara didn't have a problem killing a few others in order to achieve her goals, especially since Robert would help her track them down.

1 Ara: means to bring rain, Robert de Sable is saying that she brought on the rain.


	5. Chapter 18 to Epilogue

Chapter Eighteen

Altaїr faded in and out of consciousness for days until he finally woke up at the Assassin Bureau with Malik tending to him. Malik had washed his wounds and was now rinsing the wash cloth in a bowl of water. Altaїr watched him as he returned to his side in order to rewrap his wounds. Altaїr glanced over at him, trying to speak.

"Rest for now, Altaїr."

"No, I don't have time." he tried to get up, but was crippled by the pain. Malik helped him to lie back down.

"Just stay here for now. Oh, and Rafik sent you some information."

"Rafik? What news does he have for me?"

Malik read the paper that Rafik had sent, it stated: _**Altaїr, Aamir isn't what she seems. Years ago, she was banned from the village for trying to corrupt the young Assassin members and tried to make them turn against us. I'll try to find out more, be cautious, I haven't told Al Mualim yet.—Rafik**_

_** P.S. Rarul was found dead yesterday morning.**_

Hearing this, Altaїr forced himself to stand and dressed. Malik tried to convince him to wait another day, but he wouldn't hear of it. Within the hour, Altaїr was out amongst the people looking for clues as to where the Templers were. Altair was more concerned with where Aamir and Robert de Sable were, than the other. His blood was burning, yearning for vengeance. Aamir would pay for what she had done.

Malik followed close behind him, worried that Altaїr would faint before the day was over. Jerusalem was a very big city; it would be hard to track down just two people out of the entire Templar army. Altair's pace was very slow, needing to take several breaks in order to rest. His wounds wore him down harder than he originally imagined. By the end of the day, they had to return to the Bureau empty handed. They hadn't a clue as to where they might be.

Altaїr had bled through his bandages; he sat down undoing his belt. Malik helped him remove his tunic so that they could redress his wounds. Layer after layer was removed, the lowest layer had been attached the wound. But with a slight tug, it came loose. Malik placed an herbal ointment on the wound and then rewrapped it again. That night, it took a long time before Altaїr could fall asleep. Though the frigid air seemed to beckon him to sleep, the pain from his wounds kept him from it. It was not until dawn that he finally drifted to sleep.

_"Please, Altaїr? Let's run away when the baby's born?" _

_ "I don't know…" he looked deep into her eyes, finally coming to a decision, "Okay, when the baby is born." He agreed. All was fine until the end of the pregnancy; Altaїr saw that his love continually had new bruises. When he would ask her about them, she would just say that she was clumsy. He figured what was going on, but there was nothing he could do about it….._

"Altaїr, wake up! Wake up!" Malik shoved Altaїr wake, "It's almost noon!" Altaїr jolted awake, not realizing how late it was. 

"You must be sick! You've never slept in so late, get up!" Altaїr remained silent, sitting up as Malik took the blankets and pillows out from under him, eventually forcing him to stand. Altaїr walked over to a bucket of water to wash his face. He was lost in thought of how to track down Aamir. As a lighting blot flashed across the sky, an idea hit him: if Tamir was right and Aamir was looking for revenge against Jubair, then all he had to do is find Jubair.

"I'm leaving." Altaїr called back to Malik as he left.

"What? Wait, I'll go with you." But before Malik had finish, Altaїr was gone. Malik just sighed, continuing on with his work.

Altaїr was holding his side as he walked through the city; he was glad that the rain had lessened. The pain was still too exhausting for him, forcing him to stop and sit. His eyes closed in pain, his side throbbing. While leaning against the wall, he never even noticed the beat of the rain, or the conversation of people. There was an odd sound that suddenly filled his senses, a _flapping_ the air. He sat forward, recognizing it as the wings of a bird, flapping in the sky. Standing to his feet, he followed the sound…_flap, flap_. It flowed with a rhythm like that of a heartbeat. Once he had found the source, he couldn't believe what he saw…it was Omair!

He couldn't help but think that his luck had finally changed. Omair landed for a brief moment on a pole, scanning the streets. Their eyes met for a moment, just before he flew away. Altaїr knew that Omair would be his best bet in finding Aamir and took off running after him. It would be easier than trying to find Jubair. Oddly enough, Omair would rest often as if he knew Altaїr was following him. Omair landed on an awning of the Templar headquarters.

Altaїr hid in a roof garden on the edge of the building, to avoid Templar guards. He peeked out from the curtain, scanning the courtyard below. To his surprise, he saw Jubair, tied to a post center the courtyard. At the moment, he was being fed lunch by a young girl. It almost looked like she was flirting with him. This only reinforced his point of view, that there was no understanding women.

At a second glance he recognized her; it was Rachael, from Damascus. It finally dawned on him: Rachael was Aamir. It made perfect sense now, Aamir disguised herself as Rachael, in Damascus, to get close to Rarul. Once she and Rarul were alone, she must have gotten the information about Tamir's home. He would have to admit, that her acting ability was fairly good.

Rachael, rather Aamir, was caressing Jubair around the neck and shoulder. Jubair was enjoying her company, in every sense of the word. He would place a light kiss her on her cheek and whisper in her ear. Robert de Sable was sitting at a table not far away, watching their interaction. Sitting next to him was another Templar; his build was slender for that of a soldier. Altaїr couldn't get a good look at him unfortunately. That particular soldier picked up a dagger and walked over to Rachael. The flirting stopped immediately. Rachael looked up, setting the plate of food aside.

The soldier held forth the dagger, Rachael took it. Jubair's face fell, full of fear, he now recognized her and knew what was about to happen. Rachael's demeanor changed completely. Instead of the nice, kind, flirty girl; she became cold and serious. The dagger was thrust into his chest, evil pleasure boiled from within her. For once she didn't mind the blood on her face. Her sanity was departing as she continued to stab him repeatedly with no accuracy in where she was hitting. The blood mixed with the water and was carried away by the stream.

"That's enough, he's dead!" Robert yelled from across the courtyard. "Go clean yourself off." He ordered. The soldier escorted her to a side building and when they returned, Aamir had returned to the robes of an Assassin. Aamir sat next to Robert, who wrapped his arm around her and kissed her lightly on her forehead. The other guard moved to the side of Robert and Aamir. Altaїr jumped down. Robert was easily annoyed by Altaїr's presence. The guard stepped forward as to block Altaїr.

"Stand aside, my business is with Aamir."

"Be gone, you have _no_ business here." Robert spat, Aamir moved from under Robert's arm, moving towards Altaїr.

"This is between us, please let me handle this." She asked Robert, he nodded towards the other soldier, who stood aside. The soldier removed _his _helmet and hugged Aamir,

"Thank you for all your help, Maria. Please, leave here, this is for me to handle. Our transaction is complete…"

Robert and Maria were understanding and allowed her to finish what she had originally set out to do so many years before. Maria tried to hide that fact that she was worried, but Robert knew that this could very well be the last time they would ever see her alive.

Chapter Nineteen

Altaїr and Aamir stood alone in the courtyard. Aamir seemed limp and lifeless, her eyes were distance and showed no emotion. Altaїr walked forward, clutching his fist, stopping inches before her.

"Tell me now. Tell me the truth." He demanded, putting his face near hers.

"Long ago, Robert de Sable saved my life, I'd owed him—"

"So you betrayed us!" he pushed her back. She stumbled backwards.

"I had an issue with both sides…" Altaїr punched her, throwing her to the ground. He straddled her, pinning her on the ground.

"I almost forgot my childhood. I only remembered what Al Mualim did to me; the pain, the disgrace, my whole life." She paused, "I remember my father. He was Bureau Leader. He believed that women could fight too, but knew that it would never be allowed."

"What are you talking about?"

"Still he taught me how to move and fight, like an Assassin." she continued as if talking to herself. "When Robert de Sable saved me, all I could think about was revenge. He taught me to be a soldier. Throughout the years, I've become strong and independent, even if I couldn't--."

"Nonsense, how dare you say such hypocrisy." He slapped her across the face, holding down one of her arms. She no longer had the will to resist.

"In return for what Robert did for me, I agreed to kill those involved in a conspiracy against the Templars. I now have my revenge on Jubair for killing my father and soon…."

"And who else? Tell me!"

"Al Mualim." She whispered, "And anyone who would get in my way."

Altaїr couldn't believe what he heard, Al Mualim; their master and leader. He was like a father to him, the one who had trained him. He was engulfed with rage. Altaїr began to choke Aamir. There were no more questions, she wasn't going to live to see through her revenge. Aamir tried to fight back, but her arms were just short of Altaїr's body. She then tried to pull his hands from her throat, but it was useless. His hands were tight and Aamir was running out of air.

In a last ditch effort, Aamir thrust her hidden blade into Altaїr's forearm. As he let go, the air rushed back into Aamir's lungs. She managed to push him away, rolled to her side, and pulled herself to her feet. Altaїr unsheathed the dagger from his back, slicing Aamir in the chest. The blood followed the path of the dagger. The battle ensued; Aamir unsheathed her sword as Altaїr came in for another attack. Robert de Sable and Maria watched from a distance. As more blood filled out into the courtyard, the clearer it became, that this fight would determine their future.

Altaїr grabbed Aamir, he held the blade next to her throat. At the same time, Aamir reversed her sword and impaled his leg. She dropped the sword as she moved away, avoiding the dagger. The battle was a long one; lasting to dusk. Both Altaїr and Aamir were bleeding heavy when they heard a voice,

"Altaїr, where are you!" called Malik. Altaїr tried to answer back,

"Here, Mal—" Aamir's hidden blade went under the ribcage and barely missed his lungs. The battle had ended, Altaїr fell to the ground. Omair landed next to her and she plucked one of his white feathers; Aamir carefully slid the feather across one of his wounds.1

"And now, Altaїr, I have your life." Tears filled her eyes as she placed the feather in her belt. She waited for Malik to come, but he never entered the courtyard, so there was no need to go after him.

She drifted through the city attracting everyone's attention; her wounds gushing out blood, stumbling into stands, and her clothes were soaked with blood. She met Maria at the main gate where Aamir was given a horse. No words were exchanged; she rode to Masyaf!

Chapter Twenty

Once again, Altaїr awoke in the care of Malik. They exchanged glances before Malik began one of his lectures. He started off by saying how careless Altair was and how he was lucky to be alive. Altaїr was thankful that Malik was interrupted by Rafik. Rafik was so concerned about the Aamir situation that he left someone else in attendance at the Damascus Bureau, in order to tend to this issue himself. Altaїr told them what had happened, everything about what Aamir said to him and how the battle ensued.

Of course this caused great concern for Al Mualim's life. She had left the day before and would have a day yet to travel.

"There's no way to catch up with her." Rafik stated.

"No, we can send a hawk out to warn them. I'm sure it could reach them in time." suggested Malik. It was agreed. They released the hawk and watched fly away. The clouds were parting now, the sun streamed through the sky as to the start of a new day. The bird flew with ease on the winds. Suddenly an arrow shot down the hawk; Altaїr, Malik, and Rafik all stared in the empty space where the hawk once was. All hope was gone.

Altaїr refused to be dismayed; he quickly rushed back inside to get dressed. Rafik and Malik tried to convince him to stay and let them send out a younger member, but he wouldn't hear of it.

"Aamir is no amateur, her and I are almost equally matched. With God on my side I'll be able to catch up to her." With that being said, they gave him supplies and allowed him to leave. Since the city was still heavily guarded, Altaїr took the tunnel that Aamir and he used to gain entrance in. There was no trouble to be found on the way out. Once he was outside of the city, he went back to the stables.

Their horses were still there. He kindly paid the owner and was on his way. Unbeknownst to him, Aamir had not traveled as far as he thought. She was slumped over her saddle and even left a small trail of blood. The sun beat down on her; she was thirsty and hungry. The horse stopped near a pond, she slid from the saddle to the ground. Slowly she made her way to the water's edge. She cupped the water in her hands and took a sip; the water was clear and refreshing.

She stumbled back to the horse and continued on to Masyaf. All she knew was that she had to make it there before anyone would be able to stop her. On the other hand, Altaїr ran the horse ragged to stop her. To avoid killing the horse, he switched horses midway and continued the chase.

Aamir had finally reached Masyaf. As she stopped the horse at the entrance, she fell to the ground. She stood up, grabbing her side, the blood seeped over her hand. One of the Assassin guard came up to her,

"Are you ok?" he asked, wandering what could have happened.

"Please I need to see Al Mualim…" blood dipped from her mouth.

"There'll be time for that later, you need medical help. Where's Altaїr?" Abbas2 asked.

"He's gone…Jubair ambushed us and he was killed." She coughed up more blood, she continued in a raspy voice, "Please, it's important that I speak with Al Mualim right away."

"Fine, I'll help you to the castle." Abbas said, going against his better judgment.

When they reached the main doors, she told him that she would be able to make it on her own from here. He asked if she was sure and said that he wouldn't mind helping her the rest of the way. She thanked him and went on her way. The library was empty, which was unusual for this time of day. She paid no attention to it now. Through the silence her whispers echoed amongst the columns:

"Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with Thee. Blessed art thou among women,  
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." She continued up the second flight of stairs, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death." Right before she stopped at Al Mualim's desk she finished her prayer, "Amen."

Just then, Altaїr had reached the gates of Masyaf. He stumbled from the horse and ran toward the castle. At the base of the hill he met with Abbas,

"Abbas! We have to stop her!" Altaїr stopped, catching his breath.

"Altaїr? Aamir said that you had died when Jubair ambushed you both. Ah, I bet the coward ran before the battled even started…am I right?" he laughed.

"Abbas, there's no time for jokes; she plans to kill Al Mualim!"

Abbas couldn't believe his hears? Aamir…Kill…Al Mualim? High treason! The both of them raced back to the castle, gathering others to help along the way.

Al Mualim turned noticing Aamir's appearance; her tattered clothes and blood dripping from every cut and wound on her body. He calmly walked over to his desk,

"Dear child, what happened to you."

"Child? Oh, Father, do you remember me?" she spoke as if talking to some higher being. "Don't you remember all the troublesome times, the hardships, the trails I've been through?"

"Aamir, you should rest, you're not in your right mind." Al Mualim walked over to her, motioning her to sit down. "I'll call for someone to look at you."

"Father, thank you for looking after me." She smiled at Al Mualim; she stood a steady stance her voice stronger. "And I remember you!" Al Mualim took a step back, confused by the sudden change.

"Stop this at once! Leave, I will not speak with you now!" he shouted.

"The only person that will leave is you! You destroyed anything that was different from you. I won't allow you to do so any more." She trigged her hidden blade, Al Mualim didn't back away, she went to strike him.

She missed him completely. Shock overtook her; she had never missed her target before, not even in this shape. She tried and tried again, Al Mualim barely had to move.

"It must be hard….with blood coming out of your ears3?" he mocked. Aamir fell over onto the table; she lost too much blood from her previous fight. Again she stood upright, drawing her sword now. She advanced, thrusting forward. The sword nicked Al Mualim's arm…Altaїr, with the others not far behind, ran up and tackled Aamir to the floor and in one swift motion knocked her sword from her hand, pinning her left arm. He took one of his throwing knives and cut through the reins of the hidden blade, it fell to the ground.

Altaїr stood up, taking Aamir with him, and then restrained her before Al Mualim. She had nothing now: no weapons, no strength, and no life. They took her out in front of the castle for judgment. All of the Assassins were there.

Al Mualim ordered her to be disrobed, Altaїr and Abbas carried out his orders. At the end, she was left with just the one layer, the tunic. The soft dirt from around the Masyaf covered her bare feet as she stood on the stone path. Her hair was ragged with blotches of blood scattered over her body. A light flow of blood still ran from her wounds, softly kissing the ground.

Al Mualim announced to the Brotherhood, the charges that were against Aamir: high treason against the Assassins, the attempted assassination of their leader, and whatever else their imagination could come up with. Her sentence was death. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was forced to her knees. Altaїr was handed the sword. He stood before her,

"Look at me." She turned away from him, "I said look at me you traitor!" he slapped her across the face.

"I would if I could…" she trailed off, trying to be defiant to the very end.

"At least die with honor." He remarked. "Any last words?"

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death."

Altaїr grabbed her hair, pulling her head to one side. The blade pierced her body starting above the rib cage and moving downwards through her heart.

"Amen."

Epilogue

Aamir's life was short and almost meaningless. Born into the home of Khadin, an Assassin Bureau Leader, she learned the cryptic writing of blue ink. But even more then that light blue writing, there were small ripples that followed the path of the ink. In light or dark one could read it. Her father also taught her the way of the Assassin, even though it went against the Order.

She was exceptional in this skill, in every way and in every form. Khadin feared that the others would find out and sought to hide her from danger. He placed her in the Gardens not to take her away from the Creed, but to support the men. Here is where she met Altaїr, at first they disliked one another: their pride being too great. This lead to some hand-to-hand combat, and to his surprise, she matched him one-for-one. Altaїr's first reaction was to inform Al Mualim of this, but she begged him not to. He granted her that.

Non-the-less, Al Mualim had found out. He watched as Altaїr and Aamir grew quite fond of one another. No more than a year later, they had conceived a child. Aamir tried to convince Altaїr to leave with her after the baby was born; saying that the Masyaf was full of lies and feared for how her child would be raised. Being fully engulfed with his love of her, he agreed. However, Al Mualim could not allow his best student to leave. Time after time, Aamir was brought in to be cleansed of impurities. Al Mualim said that he was trying to "lead" her out of the darkness and into the light. Through her "cleansing", the baby was lost; a still born. The unnamed baby was placed in a unmarked graved in a beautiful graveyard.

Aamir was considered a "curse" because of the death of her infant. Blame was also placed on her for any misfortune that fell upon the Brotherhood. Altaїr became more distant from her at this point. Aamir blamed Al Mualim and his lies for coming between them. One day she confronted Al Mualim about his past actions and he "dealt" with her.

She was tortured for days, then they broke one of her legs, afterwards they poured a poison in her eyes…this caused her to become blind. Later, Aamir was tossed into the river only to be found by Robert de Sable, the leader of the Templar Knights.

Once she was able to stand, Robert trained her in the ways of the Templars. Though she couldn't see, she had the uncanny ability to sense where her enemies where and was able to kill them. Later she would learn to dodge her enemies, know where buildings were, and even dodge arrows. Many years after, she taught Robert the secret writing that her father taught her, she remembered it even now. Now, with all the pieces in place, her plan for revenge would begin. And to her dismay, the story has come to an end with much left to be said.

Aamir's body went missing from the Assassin's stronghold. No one knew who took her, or where they went. Her body was cleaned and new robes were placed on her. The hair was brushed and laid over her shoulder. She was placed in a modest casket, and before the lid was placed over top, for a brief moment, the moonlight gleamed over a necklace. The necklace: the sapphire, the jade, and the rube all affixed to a leather band.

The lid closed and "Aamir Arya4" was curved into it. The casket was lowered into the ground next to an unmarked grave. Aamir's sword was sent to Robert de Sable with a note telling him where she was buried. The moon hung overhead, and the clouds parted…the heavy rains never returned.

1 For those not familiar with Assassin's Creed, this is how the Assassins marked their assassinations/kills.

2 Abbas: the one who states: "No doubt you're eager to put your tongue to his boot." In the beginning of the game.

3 When a person loses an ability (sight, hearing, etc.) the other senses become stronger to compensate. So Al Mualim is stating that it must be hard to target people now that her hearing is affected as well.

4 Aamir Arya: means full of honor.


End file.
